Dragon Age: The Sacred Chalice
By BadlandProphet
Chapter 1
Author's note: Hello my friends. I tried to test a bypass around a new story error, and ended up with a story I couldn't edit. So here's try number two with a proper description. Ignore that other one until I get a chance to delete it… I warned in the description and I'll warn again about MAJOR SPOILERS for Dragon Age II that start immediately. As a bit of background, I played through the campaign as generally just a pretty good guy. I was a mage, helped the mages, killed Fenris in the final battle, as well as executed Anders. I did not have Sebastian in my group, so I am just excluding him entirely rather than try to invent a personality for him. Throughout the story, there will be indicators of the choices I made, as well as a few from DA:O when necessary. That said, I'm terrible at updating because writing for entertainment usually only happens when I get writer's block on my more serious projects. P.S. I don't own anything to do with the Dragon Age franchise. And forgive any typos, I admit I'm too lazy to scrutinize final copies.
So… after Hawke and his companions flee Kirkwall…
The water was smooth, and Hawke rather preferred it that way. When it was rough, or violent as it had been the night before, it seemed to reflect the turmoil he felt within himself. When it was peaceful, as it was today, it reflected the light of the sun brilliantly, and it was as if it had quieted his ever churning thoughts. On such days, he stared over the vast plain of the sea, desperately clinging to those rare moments of ease. It would pass, of course. This was after all, the Waking Sea, where the Vimmark Mountains channeled the ocean winds into the occasionally ferocious storm.
"Hawke." His gazing had been interrupted. He turned to stand face to face with Isabela, the pirate captain whose sun tanned face glistened brightly in the sun.
"Isabela," he said in acknowledgment.
"We've been sailing for days," she said. Her tone was restrained, but he detected a note of impatience. "I know you can't have much of a plan after fleeing for your life from a city you called home for ten years, but my stores won't last forever, even with the skeleton crew we have." He nodded distractedly.
"Take us to Antiva," he said impulsively.
"Antiva," she snorted in disbelief. She placed her hands on her hips as if she was only now becoming serious. "Hawke, you can't go to Antiva."
"Why not? It's on the way." She chuckled again.
"You've gone mad, haven't you? Hawke, every Crow in Antiva will have your name within a matter of weeks."
"We'll be the first people to come in with the knowledge of what's happened at Kirkwall," he responded, leaning back against the railing of the boat's bow. "Besides, I can handle Crows."
"Hawke, how many Crows have you met? Nuncio and his thugs, plus Zevran. And you're just lucky Zevran plays for his own team now. If he had been hunting you, you might as well be burning on a funeral pyre by now."
"You realize I just killed two of the most powerful creatures Thedas has seen? With the help of my companions, of course, but that makes little difference. Crows are no trouble to me."
"You've clearly never been to Antiva," she said, becoming frustrated. "They're not just assassins, Hawke. They're what keep the whole blasted kingdom together. They're the guard, they determine the politics, even the Chantry knows not to stick their nose into Crow business. If you go into their territory, you're a dead man."
"Sod it. I don't care." Her expression changed to one of hopelessness.
"You have a death wish, don't you. You know, Hawke, everybody's stuck by you because we don't understand life without our fearless leader to show us. Granted, Fenris didn't think so, and he was a lousy bastard, but he's dead now. And Aveline only left because she had to find Donnic before they ran to Fereldan. You should think about us, for once."
"Dammit!" he spat, turning around and pounding a fist against the wood of the boat. "That's all I've been thinking about, Isabela! This whole damn time." His voice turned to one of disdainful mockery. "The mages, and the Templars, and you and Castillon, and Mother, and Varric and his damn brother. The ones that aren't dead have a huge sodding target on their back because of me. Including you! I'm not so sure it's a bad thing if a Crow slits my throat in my sleep."
"Fine, Hawke," Isabela said, throwing her hands in the air. "You want to go to Antiva and get yourself killed, I'll get you to Antiva. I'd think about Merrill though. The rest of us have had some reason or another for joining up with you, but that girl doesn't have a single damn friend left in the world. All she has is you. And she loves you Hawke." He remained silent, and he was grateful when her heard her footsteps walking away behind him. He looked back to the water, looking for the peace that had filled him before the ship's captain inserted herself in his affairs, but now the water seemed to mock him. There was no peace. He spat into the water below.
He sat in thought for hours before becoming restless and going below deck to check on Merrill. She had complained of seasickness but had not so much as vomited. Hawke suspected that she was afraid to see the ocean, where not an inch of land was in sight, as she had commented that her feet had never left land when they had boarded Isabela's boat. When he entered their room, it was as he had suspected. She was pacing frantically, as if in panic.
"Sit down, Merrill," he said with impatience. She looked apologetically towards him and took a seat.
"I'm sorry, Hawke. I don't know what to do with myself. I'm uh- rather sick."
"Clearly." He took a seat on the bunk beside her. "I wanted to speak to you."
"Of course."
"Isabela asked me earlier where I wanted her to take me."
"What did you say?" she asked anxiously.
"I told her Antiva."
"Hawke, we can't-"
"I know. Let me speak." She nodded silently, turning her eyes towards the floor.
"I was thinking of going to the Anderfels."
"The Anderfels? Whatever for?"
"I… have had enough, Merrill. The fighting, and politics, and rescue missions, and Maker knows the rest of it. I'm tired. I was thinking it would be nice just to leave it all behind. In the Anderfels, there is more country than they have people to inhabit."
"There is a reason the steppes are deserted, Hawke." She was referring, of course, to the successions of blights that had ravaged the Anderfels and left much of the countryside uninhabited for centuries.
"There isn't a blight coming anytime soon, you can count on that. If we encounter darkspawn though, we will be able to protect ourselves. Think about it, Merrill. We can hunt and fish during the daytime, and the game will never run out. We will be alone out there. No war, no Chantry, no Circle, no Templars. I doubt even so close to Weisshaupt we will see any Grey Wardens. We can live in peace. Ten years of constant fighting can be laid to rest." She was silent for several minutes, likely imagining it herself and whether she could live in such a manner.
"It sounds lovely, Hawke," she said at last.
"But?"
"Well, what about Tevinter? Mages are accepted there…"
"You're afraid to be away from civilization," Hawke surmised.
"No! I'm Dalish, Hawke, the wild is in my blood. It's just… we could live quite wealthily in Tevinter. I'm a powerful mage myself, and you, you're the single greatest mage I've ever seen. You could have a lot of power in Tevinter. Just by dropping in, really." He mulled the idea over only momentarily, immediately dismissing it.
"Power's what got us into this ten year mess, Merrill. Haven't you had enough of it all? Isn't that what the Eluvian was about?"
"The Eluvian was about Dalish history."
"It was more than that," he intuited.
"Yes," she said after a moment's pause. "Yes, it was. I think you're right Hawke. Enough of civilization. It has brought us only misery."
"The Anderfels?"
"The Anderfels. But bed first, darling. Come to bed."
"I will. I'm going to tell Isabela about the change in plans, first."
"Then come right back."
"I will." He went topside once more, where the Rivaini woman stood at the boat's helm, hand on the wheel. The air was cool with the coming of twilight, and a cool air rushed over the boat that blew Isabela's hair back behind her gracefully. A slight smile played at her lips and her eyes were closed. It occurred to Hawke that he was seeing her in her natural element. It was perhaps from this perspective alone that he could ever truly understand her. His footsteps alerted her.
"Hawke!" she said, as if he'd caught her naked. Though Hawke reminded himself that this particular analogy did not fit Isabela well.
"Sorry. I discussed things with Merrill." She was glad to ignore the fact that an intimate moment had been interrupted.
"And?"
"The Anderfels." She stared at him blankly, blinking twice.
"The Anderfels," she responded dryly.
"Yes."
"And here I was punishing you for wanting to go to Antiva. Practical questions aside, Hawke, what could you possibly want to find in the Anderfels? Grey Wardens?"
"Solitude." He felt an inclination to smile at the word, but the feeling was gone before he had the chance to even acknowledge it. She shook her head and looked out across the sea.
"I won't argue with you about it. I suppose it's not my business. I can't take you all the way there though."
"I wasn't expecting you to."
"It would be several months of straight sailing. That's not including the time we'd have to spend in how many dozens of ports for maintenance and restock."
"I know."
"Plus, this is a bad season for heading to the Anderfels. I have never been there- that's another thing- and I hear the water ices over. This little ship will crumple like a rodent under your boot."
"I know."
"Plus, there's that whole thing between the Qunari and the Tevinters over Seheron. There is no way we'll make the passage without getting attacked. Whether by raiders or one disgruntled group or another."
"Enough, Isabela," he said finally. "I know you can't take me that far."
"I just feel guilty," she said, looking at her hands disdainfully. "Dammit Hawke, I never had a sense of guilt until you came along. I just…"
"You want to be on the sea."
"Yes," she confessed. "And I can't do it in the North."
"We'll be parting ways," he said, and her eyes flashed at him briefly before flicking back to the sea. She laughed bitterly.
"Wow," she said quietly. "I can barely wrap my mind around that one. I imagine without my shining example of moral supremacy to walk around with, I'll just go back to robbing people at knifepoint."
"It is your choice," he said indifferently.
"What? No lecture on the importance of compassion and righteous living? What's gotten into you Hawke?"
"I'm tired," he said.
"Go to bed, then, so normal Hawke can come back. This is too weird."
"That's not what I meant," he said. "I meant, I'm done with who I used to be. He's much too tiring." She looked at him long and hard, frowning eventually.
"Go get some sleep, Hawke, I've got the sails until Varric wakes up to take next shift."